Introduction:
There are many theories for the start of the universe (cosmos), ranging from the largest explosion in history to a giant floating spaghetti monster. On this page we will explore some of these theories from most world religions and science.
Big bang:
In this theory (mostly favoured by scientists), in the beginning, space and time did not exist, only dark energy and dark matter. Then, a "Big Bang", happened and the Universe was created. Down at the atomic level, scientists have theorised what happened. In the first few milliseconds, photons spontaneously changed into matter and antimatter particles according to E=mc², then they annihilated each other and reverted back to photons. After the first few seconds, the universe had cooled down enough for matter to stay as matter instead of turning to energy, and started to form elementary particles like leptons- the group that contains electrons- and quarks, a group with particles that make up protons and neutrons. In this primordial "soup" of particles, the universe was still hot enough that more complex particles like protons or neutrons couldn't exist.
When the universe cooled down enough, quarks coalesced into protons and neutrons, which in turn created hydrogen and helium nuclei, then electrons joined and turned the nuclei into atoms. After a period of about 100 million years, hydrogen clouds started to collapse due to gravity and formed the first stars. From there, the stars created almost all the known elements in their lifetimes and used their gravity to help shape the planets and moons we know.
Judeo-Christian creation story:
This theory is favoured by Jews and Christians, it starts the same for both religions, and splits with the birth of Jesus. It states that the Earth was formed 6000 years ago when an omnipotent being called God who created light and dark, the Sun, Moon and planets then the Earth, and on this Earth God created the land and the seas, and split the Earth from the heavens. He then gave the Earth fish to fill the seas, plants and animals for the land and created the Garden of Eden, where he made the first humans, Adam and Eve.
Islamic creation story:
The Islamic creation story is very similar to that of the Christian story, in it, a god named Allah created the Earth and heavens in 6 periods of undefined time, he created animals and plants and made himself our Lord.
Japanese creation story:
In the Japanese creation story, the beginning of the world was when a primordial mix of the elements and a single seed of life separated, the lighter parts rose and became the heavens and the heavier parts sank and covered the Earth. The seed of life grow and became a God, who became lonely and created more Gods, twwo of them, Izanagi and Izanami, were walking over the Earth and poked their staffs into the water, clumps of Earth rose and became the islands of Japan, these Gods then decided to create children to inhabit these isalnds. The first was so radiant that she had to become the Sun, with the next becoming the Moon, the stars and the storms. Later, the child they made the Sun (Amaterasu) had a child who they proclaimed Emperor.